Top-latch mechanism for panic-bolts.



N. B. HURD.

TOP LATCH MECHANISM FOR PANIC BOLTS.

' APPLICATION FILED APR-8. 1916.

1,203,1 16. Patented Oct. 916.

N. B. HURD.

TOP LATCH MECHANISM FOR PANIC BOLTS.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2- 1H: Manna I'lflli 0a.. rumuma.

NORMAN B. H 'ED, on NEW BRITAIN, CONNECTICUT, AssIeNoE To THE AMERICAN HARDWARE CORPORATION, on NEW BRITAIN; CONNECTICUT, A coEroEATIoN OF CONNECTICUT.

Tor-LATCH MECHANISM Eon rAN'IC-EoLTs.

Application filed April 8, 1916.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, NORMAN B. HURD, a citizen of the United States of America, residing at New Britain, Connecticut, have invented a new and useful Top-Latch Mechanism for Panic-Bolts, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to door locking mechanism of the type comprising door locking means and controlling means associated therewith including a cross-bar or the like so positioned on the door as to be engaged with certainty in the event of a panic or the like, requiring a quick release and opening of the door.

One of the main objects of my invention is to insure certain, positive and quick release of the door locking mechanism.

Other objects are to reduce the cost of devices of this character and to do this without in any way sacrificing the strength or eiiiciency of the device.

Other objects and features of the invention will appear as the specification proceeds. p

Thepresent invention is closely related to and constitutes in the main an improvement of the bolt setforth and broadly claimed in my U. S. Letters Patent No. 1,1l5,590 of July 6, 1915. v

In the accompanying drawings wherein I have illustrated the invention embodied in a practical form; F igure'l is a vertical sectional view showing the invention applied to a door and doorcasing and with the parts in the door-unlocked position. Fig. 2 is a similar view with the parts in the doorlocked position, the latch housing being shown in section. Fig. 2 is a more or less fragmentary view looking into the rear side of the center casing in which the handle is mounted. Fig. 3 is an enlarged rear view looking into the latch housing the cap or cover plate having been removed. Fig. 4 is a detail perspective view of the abutment head carried by the upper end of the vertically movable bar. Fig. 5' is a similar view of the pivoted latch bolt. v

Takingup the drawings now more in detail, 1 represents a door, 2 the overhead part of the door casing'and 3 the lower part or 'floor which broadly considered constitutes a part of the casing.

4 is a vertically movable bar suitably Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Oct. 31, 1916;

Serial N 0. 89,969.

mounted on the door, it being guided and supported in the present instance at its lower end by a guide bracket 5 and at its upper end in a latch housing 6.

The door lock in the present disclosure includes both upper and lower bolts which engage suitable keepers on the upper and lower parts of the door casing. The lower 7 keeper in the specific form shown comprises a socket 7 and the lower bolt in this instance is in the form of a bar 8 guided in the bracket 5 and operatively connected with the lower end of the upper bolt bar 4:, as by means of a walking beam 9 engaging at its opposite ends with pins 10 on the adjacent ends of the upper and lower bars.

The mechanism for releasing the lock comprises in the present disclosure a crossbar 11 r bar and seated in the lower end portion of thelatch housing 6. The operating connections from the handle orcrossbar 11mmprises in the illustration an arm 16 carried by the crossbar and engaging beneath a lug 17 on the upper end of the lower bar 8.

It will be obvious from the description thus far thatthe vertically movablebar is normally sustained in the upraised position, in which position the lower locking bolt is engaged with its keeper and it willfurther be clear that when the handle or crossbar is pressed against, as indicated at Fig. 1 the connections described will be operated tolift the lower bolt and release it from its keeper and through the medium of the walking beam, to depress the upper bar 4:.

. Taking up now the construction of the other, and in this case, upper, locking bolt, the same is illustrated as in the form of a pivoted latch bolt of substantially U-shaped formation providing an upstanding projecting latch nose 20 and anupstanding lug or trigger 21, said latch bolt being mounted on a pivot pin 22 supported between the side walls of the latch housing. This pivoted bolt is further provided with a dependent lug 23 providing a side face 24: for engage ment with the side of an abutment head and a lower face 25 for engagement with the top of such abutment head.

The abutment head above referred to-is indicated at 26 and is carried by the upper end of the bar 4, it being, in the illustration, formed as a separate block secured on the upper end of the bar by means of a pin 27. This abutment head or block is provided with a side abutment face 28 for engagement with the side abutment face 24: of the latch and a top abutment face 29 for engagement with the lower abutment face 25 of the latch bolt.

In the normal, or door-locked position as indicated in Fig. 2, the operating bar is in the upraised position, and the side abutment face 28 of the abutment head lies in back of the abutment face 24% of the dependent lug on the latch bolt and so locks the latch bolt against retraction. When however the operating bolt bar 4 is depressed, this locking face of the abutment head is carried away from locking face 24 of the latch bolt thereby freeing the latch bolt and permitting it to swing downward in the position indicated in Fig. 1 wherein the lower abutment face 25 of the latch bolt overlies and engages over the top of the abutment head, thereby locking the bolt operating bar in its depressed and door-unlocked position. The pivoted latch bolt is preferably. so balanced that it will when released by the withdrawal of the abutment head swing downward by gravity as illustrated. To limit this downward swinging movement the latch bolt is usually provided with a stop lug 30 which, as indicated in Fig. 1, is arranged to engage with the side of the abutment head. I r

The keeper for the upper bolt may be of a suitable construction and in the present instance I employ for this a lug or stop 31 dependent from the top of the door casing and providing on the inner side thereof an abutment face 32 for engagement by latching nose 20 and at the outside thereof an abutment 33 for engagement by the trigger 21 of the latch bolt.

From the foregoing it will be apparent that as soon as the locking bolts have been fully released the operating bar will become automatically locked and the lower bolt will be thereby held in retracted position, the upper bolt having at this time fallen by gravity into its retracted or released position. This is the condition illustrated in Fig. 1. Fig. 1 also illustrates how as the door is pushed closed the trigger on the latch bolt engages the abutment face 33 on the door casing and so swings the latch bolt up into projected position, at the same time freeing the operating bar from restraint and ermitting the spring or other sustaining means to exert itself and lift the operating bar into the upper position wherein it looks the latch bolt in the projected position to which it has just been restored.

What I claim is:

1. In a door lock of the character set forth, the combination with a door and door casing, of a vertically movable bar mounted on said door, a pivoted bolt mounted on the door, a keeper on the door casing for said pivoted bolt, an abutment head on the vertically movable bar arranged in the raised position of the vertically movable bar to en gage and lock the pivoted bolt in projected position, means for normally sustaining the vertically movable bar in raised position and means for lowering the vertically movable bar to thereby free the abutment head thereon from locking engagement with the pivoted bolt.

2. In a door lock of the character set forth, the combination with a door and door casing, of a vertically movable bar mounted on said door, a pivoted bolt mounted on the door, a keeper on the door casing for said pivoted bolt, an abutment head on the vertically movable bar arranged in the raised position of the vertically movable bar to engage and lock the pivoted bolt in projected position, means for normally sustaining the vertically movable bar in raised position and, means for lowering the vertically movable bar to thereby free the abutment head thereon from looking engagement with the pivoted bolt, a tail piece on the pivoted bolt engaging the vertically movable bar in the depressed position thereof to lock said bolt in such depressed position and a trigger on the pivoted bolt arranged to engage a stationary abutment on the door casing in the closing movement of the door to restore the plvoted bolt to projected position and to release the vertically Irgncivable bar from restraint of the pivoted 3. In a door lock of the character set forth, the combination with a door and door casing, of a vertically movable bar mounted on said door, a pivoted bolt mounted on the door, a keeper on the door casing for said pivoted bolt, an abutment head .on the vertically movable bar arranged in the raised position of the vertically movable bar to engage and lock the pivoted bolt in projected position, means for normally sustaining the vertically movable bar in raised position, means for lowering the vertically movable bar to thereby free the abutment head thereon from looking engagement with the pivoted bolt and a locking bolt operated by the vertically movable bar.

4. In a door lock of the character set forth, the combination with a door and door casing, of a vertically movable bar mounted on the door, means for yieldingly sustaining said bar in elevated position, a pivoted latch bolt on the door, a. keeper for said latch bolt on the door casing,an abutment head on the upper end of the vertically movable bar arranged to engage the latch bolt in the raised position of said bar and thereby lock said latch bolt projected, means on the latch bolt engaging the vertically movable bar when said bar is depressed to lock said bar in depressed position, means for depressing the vertically movable bar and a trigger on the latch bolt arranged for engagement with an abutment on the door casing in the closing movement of the door to restore the latch bolt to projected position andfree the vertically movable bar from the restraint of the latch bolt.

In a door lock of the character set 4 forth, the combination With a door and door casing, of a vertically movable bar mounted on the door, means for yieldingly sustaining said bar in elevated position, a pivoted latch bolt on the door, a keeper for said latch bolt on the door casing, an abutment head on the upper end of the vertically movable bar arranged to engage the latch bolt in the raised position of said bar to thereby lock said latch bolt projected, means on the latch bolt engaging the vertically movable bar when said bar is depressed to lock-said bar in depressed position, means for depressing the vertically movable bar, a trigger on the latch bolt arranged for engagement with an abutment on the door casing in the closing movement of the door to restore the latch bolt to projected position and free the vertically movable bar from the restraint of the latch bolt and a locking bolt operated by the vertically movable bar.

(3. In a door lock of the character set forth, the combination With a door and door casing, of a latch bolt pivoted 011 the door having an upstanding latching nose, an upstanding trigger spaced therefrom and a dependent projection having abutment faces for engagement with the side and top surfaces of an abutment head, a vertically ovable bar on the door and an abutment head on the upper end of said bar, means for normally yieldingly sustaining said bar with the side face of the abutment head thereon in locking engagement With the side abutment face on the dependent lug of the latch bolt, means for depressing said bar Whereby to permit said latch bolt to swing down into position With the second abutment face thereon engaging over the top of the abutment head, a keeper on the door casing for the latch bolt and an abutment surface on the door casing arranged in the door closing movement to be engaged by the upstanding trigger of the latch bolt.

NORMAN B. HURD.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. C. 

